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People don't call us because they need a mortgage. They call us because they need help making a housing decision.
Mortgage Matters is a Las Vegas, Nevada-based radio show and podcast hosted by mortgage advisors Roland Daniels (NMLS 355859) and Heidi Griffith (NMLS 2247754) with Geneva Financial. Airing every Sunday at 7:30 AM on KUNV 91.5 and available wherever you listen to podcasts, the show explores the real-life decisions, opportunities, challenges, and financial realities that shape where and how we live.
Every week, Roland and Heidi tackle the housing conversations people are already having around kitchen tables, at family gatherings, and on social media. Should I buy or wait? Is my first home supposed to be my dream home? Should I move up, downsize, invest, or stay put? How do I build wealth through real estate? What's the smartest use of my money? Through honest conversations and practical guidance, they help listeners make sense of the choices involved in renting, buying, selling, investing, and planning for the future.
Drawing on decades of mortgage and housing experience, Roland and Heidi break down real mortgage questions, homeownership strategies, down payment assistance programs, FHA loans, VA loans, conventional financing, housing affordability, wealth-building opportunities, and the financial realities that influence housing decisions.
Mortgage Matters also shines a spotlight on the people and organizations working to strengthen communities across Las Vegas and Nevada. Through conversations with housing advocates, nonprofit leaders, educators, elected officials, and local changemakers, the show explores the issues that affect housing, opportunity, economic mobility, fair housing, and homeownership throughout Southern Nevada.
Roland and Heidi are active community educators who lead free homebuyer workshops across Nevada in partnership with organizations including the Nevada Housing Division, Chicanos Por La Causa (CPLC), and Nevada Rural Housing Authority. Roland serves as a director with the local chapter of the National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB), and Heidi serves as President of the Silver State Fair Housing Council, where Roland is also a board member. Together, they bring mortgage expertise, housing advocacy, community involvement, and a passion for helping people make informed housing decisions to every episode.
Announcer 0:00
This is a K-Unb Studios original program.
Wesley Knight 0:04
The content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 Jazz and Moore, the University of Nevada Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education.
Roland Daniels 0:43
Good morning, Las Vegas. Welcome to Mortgage Matters. I'm Roland Daniels, a certified mortgage advisor with Geneva Financial. My NMLS number is 355859 Our company NMLS number is 42056 and I'm here this morning, as always, with my fantastic co-host Heidi Griffith. Good morning, Heidi.
Heidi Griffith 1:06
Well, good morning, Roland. Happy Sunday.
Roland Daniels 1:08
Happy Sunday. How
Heidi Griffith 1:09
are you today?
Roland Daniels 1:10
I am doing absolutely fantastic.
Heidi Griffith 1:13
I love to hear that. Good morning, everyone. I'm Heidi Griffith. I am also a mortgage advisor and your director of client services. My MLS number is 2247754 So, let me ask you something.
Roland Daniels 1:26
Yes, what is the question? Do
Heidi Griffith 1:29
you feel like people are under more pressure nowadays to look financially okay than they're actually being financially okay?
Roland Daniels 1:38
That is a great question, and I absolutely agree with you,
Heidi Griffith 1:43
right. It's kind of all about errors, isn't it? It is, especially
Roland Daniels 1:47
in this day and time.
Heidi Griffith 1:48
I know I'm seeing a lot more lately. Yep, everybody looks like they're doing okay on the outside, everybody's, you know, posting on social, their vacations, their vehicles, their food,
Roland Daniels 1:59
yep, vacations in Dubai, or those European vacations,
Heidi Griffith 2:03
man, but then in real life, because we look at folks' financials, right?
Roland Daniels 2:07
We do.
Heidi Griffith 2:07
People are stressed.
Roland Daniels 2:08
They are
Heidi Griffith 2:09
people are stressed. It's a lot right now between the cost of gas and just food,
Roland Daniels 2:14
just everyday living.
Heidi Griffith 2:15
And I think we talk a little bit about that today,
Roland Daniels 2:19
and I have to tell you,
Heidi Griffith 2:20
what's that?
Roland Daniels 2:21
The Joneses are broke.
Heidi Griffith 2:23
Say it again,
Roland Daniels 2:24
the Joneses are broke.
Heidi Griffith 2:26
Serious, for real, they are.
Roland Daniels 2:28
They are
Heidi Griffith 2:29
people are trying to maintain an image, I think. Not all of us, obviously, but.. but I think that when I say that, and if you're listening, you know who I'm talking about, you know that person, they
Roland Daniels 2:42
think they all do.
Heidi Griffith 2:43
They look good on paper, right? They look good on on your screen,
Roland Daniels 2:47
on screen, not on paper.
Heidi Griffith 2:48
True story. You know, they've got the nice car, and it doesn't even have to be top tier luxury, right? I'm not talking about Bugattis, but they've got a nice car.
Roland Daniels 2:59
Yeah, BMWs, Mercedes, Teslas,
Heidi Griffith 3:01
they're traveling, and let's clarify that we're not telling you if you drive any of those vehicles, I drive a Lexus, we're not saying if you drive those vehicles that it's innately bad,
Roland Daniels 3:13
right,
Heidi Griffith 3:14
but but there's these people out there that are living a little bit above their means,
Roland Daniels 3:21
I think, greatly above their means,
Heidi Griffith 3:24
right? And a lot of times it can feel impressive,
Roland Daniels 3:28
right.
Heidi Griffith 3:29
Social media has made it worse, in my opinion.
Roland Daniels 3:32
I agree, I agree, definitely.
Heidi Griffith 3:35
And I know, just based on conversations, I know, based on the way that I've felt in the past, when you, when you're scrolling and you see something, it makes you feel some kind of way. I mean, it would be like you and I work together at the same job, we make the same wage,
Roland Daniels 3:52
right?
Heidi Griffith 3:52
But all of a sudden your social media is blowing up, you're in Italy, you've got this brand new carcinoid, you got the Gucci shoes again. Nothing wrong with Gucci shoes, as long as you can afford them,
Roland Daniels 4:05
afford them
Heidi Griffith 4:06
for real, for real, afford them.
Roland Daniels 4:08
Yes,
Heidi Griffith 4:08
not just charge them. And understand this. Say it again, Roland.
Roland Daniels 4:14
The Joneses are broke.
Heidi Griffith 4:16
Never a truer statement. A lot of stuff we see is not in fact reality. It
Roland Daniels 4:22
is not. It is all projection, an image that we're portraying.
Heidi Griffith 4:26
Yeah, because sometimes you know people spend emotionally because life just feels stressful. It feels like we have to keep up with others with the Joneses, and the Joneses are broke, right? Yes, people have normalized spending 800 bucks a month, or in many instances more, on a car payment faster than a mortgage payment will build equity,
Roland Daniels 4:48
right?
Heidi Griffith 4:49
They've, they've taken the vehicle, and again, we all need cars, right? We live in a city that is not a foot city, you know, not that we don't. Have public transit, shout out to all of my RTC friends. We've got a great public transit system. It's just not conducive to Las Vegas. We're a sprawling city, right? We are, so we understand that you need a car, we understand that you need to be able to get to and from work, we understand that you need to go to the grocery store, you need to live life,
Roland Daniels 5:20
but do you need that $1,100 a month car payment?
Heidi Griffith 5:23
Well, that sounds like it should be something super fantastic if you have an 1100 We were in a class, it was our class with CPLC, was for Sim Home Buyer class, and we talk about car payments everywhere we go, because it's just.. it's kind of still mind-boggling to me that car payments, average car payment is 750
Roland Daniels 5:41
right here in Las Vegas.
Heidi Griffith 5:42
We talked to somebody who was attending the class. She pays nearly $1,100 It was like, what, 1095 something like that,
Roland Daniels 5:51
right,
Heidi Griffith 5:52
a month. And the vehicle that she's driving, it's an SUV, but it's not top tier. You wouldn't be like, oh, wow, I can't believe she got this car. Nice car, it's a nice car, for real. But 1100 bucks for a car
Roland Daniels 6:07
over 84 months,
Heidi Griffith 6:09
it's tough. It's tough, but I think people understand that people see our car, you know? Maybe our car is our status symbol, and a lot of us, we do, we want to impress other people, we want other people to know that we're doing good, but think about this, right?
Roland Daniels 6:27
But what does that look like behind the scenes, though? What does it look like when it comes to your finances?
Heidi Griffith 6:33
Well, it's tough. It's tough because when we, we talk about home ownership, right? Obviously, that's what we do, and not everybody should be a homeowner, and we understand that not everybody wants to be a homeowner, and we understand that and respect that equally.
Roland Daniels 6:48
We do,
Heidi Griffith 6:48
but I think that, especially when we're sitting in a homeowner, you know, a home ownership class, that the thought is at least crossed everyone in the room's mind,
Roland Daniels 6:57
right?
Heidi Griffith 6:57
And this isn't a dick against her, that by no means is associated against her, but people you know might want to sit with the fact that your house could actually be the one thing that can create long-term stability.
Roland Daniels 7:11
Well, especially when you're looking at that car, because that is what we like to call, or what it is, a depreciating asset, which reduces in value over time,
Heidi Griffith 7:22
the second you drive off the car
Roland Daniels 7:23
lot. Yeah, it's anywhere between 15 and 20% that the car is worth less as soon as you drive it off.
Heidi Griffith 7:30
And most of us know that. I mean, we know I went to the car dealership, I bought a used car, and it wasn't - I mean, it had 8000 miles on it because of the cost savings doing that,
Roland Daniels 7:40
of course,
Heidi Griffith 7:41
again, not telling anybody they have to do that, but just understand we're not saying that people shouldn't enjoy nice things. I love nice things, that's not the point. The point is, are we building stability or are we trying to look like we're out here doing stuff,
Roland Daniels 7:55
right? Because we, at least for us, the goal is to own a home, which is an appreciating asset, and sometimes a home, should I say, doesn't look as exciting as that car, or or those clothes, or that purse, or those shoes.
Heidi Griffith 8:14
Well, you can't drive your house around town, so people can't see, you can drive a nice car up, and people can stop. And heck, you did it yesterday. We had a CE class at Lawyers Title yesterday.
Roland Daniels 8:27
We did,
Heidi Griffith 8:29
and as we were leaving, there was a brand new Bentley out front.
Roland Daniels 8:32
No, it was beautiful.
Heidi Griffith 8:33
And you stopped, and you, and you, you looked at the car. I mean, you were there for 10 minutes checking out this car.
Roland Daniels 8:39
I did do a. there's a brand new one, and it's the sports model bin. It
Heidi Griffith 8:44
was pretty,
Roland Daniels 8:45
and it is on point.
Heidi Griffith 8:47
It was pretty, so that's that the person that drives that car understands that that's the attention that they're going to get,
Roland Daniels 8:54
that
Heidi Griffith 8:55
is right. And so if you've got an affordable three bedroom, two bath, 1500 square foot home, and we're watching TikToks, and we're looking at all the luxury listings.
Roland Daniels 9:10
Yep,
Heidi Griffith 9:11
you know, now our house, now our house feels less than.. don't let that happen.
Roland Daniels 9:15
Of course
Heidi Griffith 9:16
not. Do not let that happen. I think a lot of people are trying to look financially okay.
Roland Daniels 9:21
I agree with you, but are they financially okay?
Heidi Griffith 9:25
That's that's a big question. So, if you have any thoughts or questions about anything that we talk about today, or maybe you're trying to figure out what your options are, feel free to reach out. You can call or text us. We're at 702-540-0420 Again, our number is 702-540-0420 you know, and honestly, I don't think the advice that people are getting out there is necessarily the best always,
Roland Daniels 9:54
and I agree with you, because there's something, or a group of people, and. I know you're gonna, and I'll term
Heidi Griffith 10:01
it.
Roland Daniels 10:02
It's called the Street Committee.
Heidi Griffith 10:03
I love when you say that,
Roland Daniels 10:04
right? So, the Street Committee are people who are giving you advice who may have been, may not have purchased a home in the last five or 10 years, sometimes never.
Heidi Griffith 10:16
Well, I've had conversations with those people.
Roland Daniels 10:19
We have
Heidi Griffith 10:19
the Street committee, I love when Roland says the street committee. Sometimes these people, you know, are out here making decisions based on.. in here I go with my air quotes again, the street committee,
Roland Daniels 10:30
right?
Heidi Griffith 10:30
Because these folks, and all of us know this person, and probably when you hear me say this, you're gonna go, oh yeah, that's so and so. These are the loud people, these are the people with big voices and big opinions, they know everything about everything. You've got something, you say something, they come back with the knowledge, and sometimes it might even sound right.
Roland Daniels 10:54
So, why do we listen to these people?
Heidi Griffith 10:56
Well, they have big voices, they've got big voices, and it sounds good because they say it loud,
Roland Daniels 11:03
right.
Heidi Griffith 11:04
And let's be honest, for a second, the crash people kept talking about that hasn't happened.
Roland Daniels 11:10
It has not.
Heidi Griffith 11:11
And meanwhile, rents keep going up.
Roland Daniels 11:13
They have
Heidi Griffith 11:14
did rates magically drop?
Roland Daniels 11:16
They did not.
Heidi Griffith 11:17
What did the loud people say? The
Roland Daniels 11:19
market is going to collapse. You should just continue to rent,
Heidi Griffith 11:25
and they do, and we hear it every single day. People call, they're waiting for rates to drop. We talk about that all the time. We talk to people about that all the time.
Roland Daniels 11:33
Well, I've been talking to people for the last five years. They've been telling me, oh well, when the rates go down to like 4% and home prices go back to 275 then I'll jump back into the market. Well, that has not occurred.
Heidi Griffith 11:47
No, it hasn't. And will it occur? Crystal ball broke, I don't know, but it sure doesn't look that way. It's not 2008 anymore. Lending practices changed dramatically from that time, and people learned a lot of really valuable lessons, myself included,
Roland Daniels 12:05
right.
Heidi Griffith 12:05
In that 2008 crash, there's still opportunities out there if people kind of take a step back from the noise,
Roland Daniels 12:15
right?
Heidi Griffith 12:15
You know, whether it be a relative or a co-worker, take a step back. You know what? Here's the best thing to do: do your own research.
Roland Daniels 12:25
I agree,
Heidi Griffith 12:26
not just from one source, not just from us, not just from us, but do your research and find out what's best for you.
Roland Daniels 12:33
Agree.
Heidi Griffith 12:34
So people are hurting financially, they don't know whether they should buy. If you know what they should do moving forward. We talked about car payments, we talked about the street committee, we
Roland Daniels 12:45
talked about the Joneses.
Heidi Griffith 12:46
Well, the Joneses are broke. Let's stop talking about the Joneses, because Joneses don't have any money. They just look really cool when they step out at night. I'm going to talk about a client that I'm working with right now. He's a doctor, he makes over 200,000 a year. I'm not going to go into too many details, but he makes over 200,000 a year. On the outside, he's clean, he looks great, he drives a great car. I know that he travels a lot. He's drowning in credit card debt,
Roland Daniels 13:15
and most people would assume that somebody making that kind of money has zero financial stress.
Heidi Griffith 13:22
It's not true, is it? It is not. They have nice cars, they have big, beautiful homes. You saw them on Facebook. They were in Italy
Heidi Griffith 13:29
eating the
Heidi Griffith 13:30
most delicious pizza.
Roland Daniels 13:31
Yes,
Heidi Griffith 13:32
and you might even have been a little bit jealous.
Roland Daniels 13:34
Yes,
Heidi Griffith 13:35
I've been there. I've been there. I'm like, man, I said it earlier, your coworker who makes exactly the same, maybe their spouse is super wealthy, but how are they doing it? And I can't,
Roland Daniels 13:47
right? How are they affording that lifestyle?
Heidi Griffith 13:49
Great question. Because in reality, a lot of the folks that we see that are out here being showy, right, every dollar they make is already spent,
Roland Daniels 13:57
and like Heidi, it doesn't matter if you're a doctor, maybe a school teacher. We know some school teachers have more money or more assets set aside than some doctors.
Heidi Griffith 14:08
Absolutely, I know casino workers. We worked with someone in housekeeping who had a nice nest egg in her account,
Roland Daniels 14:17
right?
Heidi Griffith 14:18
It's about choices, and again I'm not here to tell you you shouldn't do anything, you should do whatever you want, but the future comes fast,
Roland Daniels 14:26
it does, and just before we, we move on, so what Heidi was saying is that we want you to educate yourself, understand your numbers, learn your options, and build a strategy around your own goals, right? Make decisions based on your facts, not fear, not social media or broke options.
Heidi Griffith 14:51
Yeah, because if you've got big payments, you've got big debt.
Roland Daniels 14:54
I agree with
Heidi Griffith 14:55
lifestyle gets expensive fast. We see so. Many people who've climbed that income ladder, they've promoted, they've gotten better jobs, they've, you know, educated themselves, and maybe their degree got them a higher income, phenomenal. But then we watch these same folks day in and day out,
Roland Daniels 15:16
we do,
Heidi Griffith 15:16
the more they make,
Roland Daniels 15:18
the more they spend,
Heidi Griffith 15:19
the more they make them. It's called lifestyle cruise. Yep, income does not automatically equal
Roland Daniels 15:24
peace. Agreed. And then we see the complete opposite.
Heidi Griffith 15:30
We do. I wrote this down because I wanted to remember that we talk about this, and this one. This one touches my heart. I tell this story everywhere I go now. She just closed, so I'm talking about a client who just closed. It was a week last Friday, a week ago last Friday. So just she's been in her home for just a very short time. She's a single mom. She's got two kids. They've got kid activities, they've got fun stuff that they do. They've got life,
Roland Daniels 16:01
they do.
Heidi Griffith 16:02
She's got medical bills.
Roland Daniels 16:03
Great story.
Heidi Griffith 16:04
It's real life stuff, right?
Roland Daniels 16:06
It
Heidi Griffith 16:06
is. And when we met, she was paying $2,100 in rent for a three bedroom condo,
Roland Daniels 16:15
right?
Heidi Griffith 16:15
She was renting a three bedroom condo, and she knew that she couldn't comfortably live with that payment long term. She knew that it was making her strapped,
Roland Daniels 16:25
and at that $2,100 a month, of course, every year it will definitely increase.
Heidi Griffith 16:30
Yes,
Roland Daniels 16:31
right.
Heidi Griffith 16:31
Yes, rent rents continue to go up. We don't have any rent caps here.
Roland Daniels 16:35
Yep,
Heidi Griffith 16:36
she made a decision before she even started looking for home, right? When we sat down, she said if she buys a house, her payment needs to be less than what she's paying in rent, so it needed her payment needed to be less than $2,100 a month. She's got two kids, she needed a three-bedroom property,
Roland Daniels 16:55
and sometimes, sometimes that is tough to find.
Heidi Griffith 16:57
Well, yeah, and if you talk to the wrong people, they'll tell you it's impossible. You know, we hear a lot of chatter on the news, and this isn't even against the news. It's everywhere. This is, you know, the street committee talks about everybody's talking about it. One day you hear that you can't afford a house here, the next day prices are falling, the next day the sky is falling, the next day it's bright and sunny. We're in a really interesting market,
Roland Daniels 17:23
we are.
Heidi Griffith 17:23
There's in the Las Vegas Valley. I pulled numbers for Monday's last Monday's class that we did. So this is this past Monday in the Las Vegas Valley, so that's Las Vegas, Henderson, North Las Vegas, right? There was about 90, right under 9200 homes available,
Roland Daniels 17:43
and how many people actually live in Nevada?
Heidi Griffith 17:45
Almost 3 million people live in the valley, 3 million, not in Nevada, but in the valley,
Roland Daniels 17:49
in the valley.
Heidi Griffith 17:50
Yeah,
Roland Daniels 17:50
and there's about just above 9000 properties,
Heidi Griffith 17:55
so there's homes available, certainly a lot more homes than there were in 2000 or 2022 23 when rates had really just changed, right? When they were two and a half and three and a half percent, definitely more inventory. Inventory is rising. Why is inventory rising? Well, for a number of reasons, but why are people selling their homes? Because prices haven't come down, but neither have interest rates. They
Roland Daniels 18:20
have not been going up.
Heidi Griffith 18:22
Everybody's been waiting for I'm gonna wait till rates come down. I know the market is gonna crash. We could say this until we turn purple in the face, right? But she knew that she needed a three-bedroom home, and she couldn't pay more than 2100 bucks a month, and she wanted to be far less than that, if possible, and she knew that if she couldn't find that, she would just look for a cheaper rental.
Roland Daniels 18:47
So, how long did she shop for a home?
Heidi Griffith 18:51
Over three months. Over three months. So, it was.. it was one of those situations. There was a lot of highs and lows in her home search, right? You know, there were days that we talked, and she was super excited about the property she was going to go see. Then there were days where she was really discouraged. She was pre-approved at 310,000 but depending on what you know, property taxes, homeowners insurance, and the homeowners association would be her payment at that 310 at that time was around 2400 bucks,
Roland Daniels 19:22
and I do remember that you ran numbers for like 20 different properties, right?
Heidi Griffith 19:27
I did. I mean, we worked side by side very closely. We ran numbers on, well, it was at least 20 different properties that she liked. She, you know, they'd reach out, her and her realtor would reach out and be like, hey, we're gonna look at this property, here's the taxes, here's the the hoa. What does this look like on paper? And we would run scenario after scenario,
Roland Daniels 19:49
because it all changes right due to the property, depending on where the property is located, the where the property taxes are. How much are they if the property has an hoa? How much is the HOA a difference, right? The
Heidi Griffith 20:03
big one is the HOA, because you will continue to pay the HOA for as long as you own the property. Here's the, here's the asterisk. In most instances, in today's world, with 30 year fixed, or you know, 15 year fixed, or 20 year fixed mortgages, your payment doesn't go up or down, that it would if you got an adjustable rate mortgage, which are still available, but the mortgage payment isn't going to go up the HOA, and the property taxes more than likely they will
Roland Daniels 20:30
continue
Heidi Griffith 20:30
to go up. So those are always food for thought, but she knew at that 310 that number wasn't going to work for her. We ran numbers, you know, she would look at something at 300 because it had a low HOA. We would look at something at 280 and it had a higher HOA, and we went back and forth looking at these numbers, but I was really, I was proud of her,
Roland Daniels 20:53
right? Because she stayed disciplined
Heidi Griffith 20:55
the entire time, right? She stayed the course, she stayed disciplined, she.. she spent her time, and she knew if she didn't find it, even after those three months, that she would just go find a less expensive rental. But keep in mind, the average three-bedroom rental in the valley is about $2,200 So now, what does the future look like for her?
Roland Daniels 21:19
And that will only go up over time.
Heidi Griffith 21:21
Well, it will, it will, but she did it,
Roland Daniels 21:24
she did,
Heidi Griffith 21:24
she did it. She found she and her realtor, her kudos to her real estate professional, they found a hidden treasure, an adorable three bedroom condo, so she got her three bedrooms
Roland Daniels 21:41
right
Heidi Griffith 21:42
about the same size as the property that she was currently living in, and it had a garage, great complex, really nice unit. She found a property that was going to be affordable for her,
Roland Daniels 21:56
so under her pre-approved.
Heidi Griffith 21:59
Oh, yeah, yeah, let's talk about it. If you have any questions, or you'd like more information about how we can make this happen, you're more than welcome to give us a call or text us. We're at 702-540-0420 Again, you can give us a call or text us. We're at 702540420 Let's talk about what she did and how she got there, and what can happen there are properties that are more affordable than what we're hearing the average prices, because the average price in the valley, depending on who you talk to, depending on how the numbers were run, is between 460 and 480
Roland Daniels 22:35
and there are definitely properties below that, there
Heidi Griffith 22:38
are, there are, and it's really going to come down to, are you looking at your needs or are you looking at your wants? Only if you're only looking at your wants, it's going to be difficult, because we all want nice stuff. That's why we started the conversation the way we did. We want to have nice, but we also need to make sure that we're financially stable, because you and I both, and I'll speak for you on this. We want every single person we work with to be a successful homeowner.
Roland Daniels 23:05
We want them to be the most successful homeowner possible.
Heidi Griffith 23:08
And what does that mean?
Roland Daniels 23:10
That means you're not house poor. We want you to be able to afford that mortgage payment and still be able to live your life,
Heidi Griffith 23:17
live life happy, be able to go on vacation, be able to go to Italy, if that's where you want to go.
Roland Daniels 23:23
That's right.
Heidi Griffith 23:24
Okay, let's talk about so.. so she was able to use the Nevada Housing Division Worker Advantage Program. We've talked about it a lot on air. That program provides $20,000 and there's a bunch of different ways you can use it. If you tuned in last week, you heard Josie with Nevada Housing Division, and she broke down every program. This program has about 270 loans left, and then those funds will be gone from this program. So she was able to take the $20,000 You can either use that $20,000 entirely towards your down payment and closing costs, or you can actually use a portion of it, either two or 4% of your loan amount,
Roland Daniels 24:04
to buy down the rate,
Heidi Griffith 24:06
so because she was looking at a condominium that was in a non FHA approved complex,
Roland Daniels 24:13
right,
Heidi Griffith 24:13
food for thought, when you're looking at condos, FHA requires that it be approved
Roland Daniels 24:20
on their list,
Heidi Griffith 24:20
we can sometimes do what they call spot approvals on an individual property, but it doesn't always happen. But so she went conventional. Yep, the property was listed, and they offered $250,000 Her earnest money was $3,000 Her offer was accepted at 250 She paid for her appraisal, which was 600 bucks,
Roland Daniels 24:42
right?
Heidi Griffith 24:42
The appraisal is for the lender. Buyers have to pay for the appraisal. The lender needs to see that to verify that the money that they're giving you is in touch with the value of the property that you're buying. So, if it doesn't come in, the lender is not going to give you money on something that doesn't appraise. Days right,
Roland Daniels 25:01
and how much was her home inspection?
Heidi Griffith 25:03
Her home inspection, I think it was about 450
Roland Daniels 25:05
Okay,
Heidi Griffith 25:05
but let's just talk about the appraisal. She offered 252
Roland Daniels 25:08
50.
Heidi Griffith 25:09
The appraisal came in at drum roll, please. Thank you, that was good. The appraisal came in at $282,000
Roland Daniels 25:18
282,000 she offered 250,000
Heidi Griffith 25:22
after her home inspection. The real estate agent, she seller, negotiated the price down from 250 to 245
Roland Daniels 25:32
They
Heidi Griffith 25:32
reduced the sales price by $5,000 and the seller gave their full, the maximum seller credits, they could get for the conventional loan. It was 3%
Roland Daniels 25:46
so that means it was reduced another $5,000 and then the seller kicked in another $7,350
Heidi Griffith 25:54
We suddenly got into the great part, so her, remember, her earnest money was 3000 the appraisal was 600 bucks, home inspection was 450 after paying all of that, her cash to close on this three bedroom with garage condo 1925 52 is what she came to closing with.
Roland Daniels 26:13
So cash to close means that that's what she had to come to the closing table with.
Heidi Griffith 26:17
Yep, after she paid her earnest money in the home inspection, and all that kind of stuff, but even better, remember, she had to be under 2100 bucks, or she wasn't going to purchase, and quite honestly, if it was like 2095 she would have thought really long and hard, because we had those conversations, her payment, payment interest, taxes, and insurance, those are the four pieces that we look at,
Roland Daniels 26:39
right,
Heidi Griffith 26:39
1610 a month when we add the HOA for the community, which we add when we're calculating mortgages. It's not paid through your mortgage, you pay the HOA yourself, but we calculated her total monthly expense for that property, 1912
Roland Daniels 26:55
And remind us again, what was she paying in rent?
Heidi Griffith 26:58
Again, she was paying 2100 bucks, she's spending almost 200 less than she was paying, and remember, she has $37,000 in equity.
Roland Daniels 27:07
Say it again,
Heidi Griffith 27:08
37,000 that's somebody making decisions based on peace instead of on pressure,
Roland Daniels 27:14
right? She wasn't trying to impress anybody, she was just working to create wealth, stability, and a legacy for her and her children, right?
Heidi Griffith 27:22
Yeah, so many people try and spend every dollar they qualify, they want more, they do. How do we get more? And I'm not, again, I'm not telling you you shouldn't have the nicest house, but you need to make sure that you have a home that you can afford,
Roland Daniels 27:34
right? Because we do want you to be, we want you to be the most successful homeowner. Financial peace is leaving room to breathe.
Heidi Griffith 27:44
Amen.
Roland Daniels 27:45
We'll be back next Sunday morning at 7:30am right here on KU NV 91.5 Until then, believe in what's possible, even if you've been told that it's out of reach, and remember, stay true to yourself and Germaine,
Heidi Griffith 28:01
bye bye.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai